With almost religious fervour Michael Cheika implored long-suffering Walllabies supporters to “believe in advance” as they stumbled towards the World Cup in Japan next year.
But the Wallabies’ are stretching their fans’ faith to the limit, their 37-20 loss to the All Blacks in Yokohama last Saturday making any successful World Cup campaign look incredibly unlikely to say the least.
The All Blacks’ clean sweep of the Bledisloe Cup series underlined the harsh reality that this is a Wallabies team going nowhere fast, stuck in a road-block of their own incompetence.
The All Blacks will provide the acid test for north’s leading lights
After being thrashed by the All Blacks in the first two Bledisloes in August, the third Test in Yokohama was a dead rubber, an ideal opportunity for the Wallabies to spring an upset against the world champions and revitalise their moribund campaign for 2019.
But the Wallabies were not up to it, nowhere near it; the gap between them and the All Blacks remaining as wide as the Pacific Ocean.
Sure, there were signs of improvement in the Wallabies’ play, particularly the running and short interchange passing among the forwards, but as is so often the case with this team, it was one step forward and two steps back, a dance of the doomed.
Cheika made a presentation to Rugby Australia chief-executive Raelene Castle and the board prior to the Wallabies embarking on the current spring tour.
Castle and co came away from the meeting reassured that Cheika and his assistant coaches had the right plan to take the Wallabies forward.
But did that plan address the issues that bedevilled the Wallabies in their unsuccessful Rugby Championship campaign and reared their hideous heads again in Yokohama?
Did Cheika address the Wallabies’ glaring missed tackles? If so, why did we see Kurtley Beale stone-cold miss All Blacks’ blindside flanker Liam Squire, who scored the first try of the Test in Yokohama?
Did Cheika address the Wallabies’ poor handling, particularly out wide? If so, why did we see so many dropped balls in Yokohama, a situation exacerbated by Israel Folau’s uncomfortableness at outside centre?
One thing we know Cheika tried to address was the All Blacks’ ability to attack off turnover ball, which hurt them in the first two Bledisloes. Cheika focused on improving the Wallabies’ transition defence, but the best way to minimize attack from turnovers is not to make silly mistakes in the first place.
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The Wallabies turned the ball over 18 times to the All Blacks seven. While only one of the All Blacks’ five tries came directly from a turnover – winger Ben Smith intercepting Folau’s offload to Michael Hooper – their four other tries to Squire, five-eighth Beauden Barrett, number eight Kieran Read and winger Rieko Ioane came indirectly from sources of possession that originated from turnovers.
What had the Wallabies learnt? These crucial errors are killing them, but they keep committing mistakes Test after Test after Test. Cheika lamented the players’ lack of patience in attack, but why is the message not getting through?
The Wallabies like to have motivational music blaring from loud-speakers while they train, maybe, they should play Paul Kelly’s “I’ve Done All The Dumb Things”.
And what about the Wallabies’ ill discipline? Did Cheika mention that to Castle and the board? If so, why did we see an 11 to five penalty count against the Wallabies as well as backup hooker Tolu Latu receiving a second yellow card in consecutive Tests?
Latu is a very talented player who has the potential to make a real difference, but his 12 minute cameo off the bench was a microcosm of much that went wrong for the Wallabies.
Latu’s first lineout throw was not straight. Two minutes later Barrett scored from a clever rehearsed move from a scrum. At 27-13 with 20 minutes to go it was just about game over.
In the 64th minute Latu knocked on a pop pass from fullback Dane Haylett-Petty, letting the All Blacks off the hook. From the break-up of the ensuing scrum Latu was involved in the push and shove with All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor that ultimately saw him sin-binned.
The sanction may have seemed a little harsh, but coaches and players must be alive to the fact that World Rugby has instructed referees to show zero tolerance towards attacks to the head.
The Nissan Stadium in Yokohama will be the venue for the World Cup final in just over a year’s time. What a fillip it would have been for the Wallabies to have beaten the All Blacks on that ground and possibly meet them there again in the Big One, knowing they could prevail.
The Wallabies now have three Tests in Europe against Wales, Italy and England to restore the fans’ faith in them before they enter the World Cup year.
Cheika wants the fans to believe in advance, but the fans want the Wallabies to give them a reason to believe.